Method of and loom for producing reed, wicker, and similar fabrics



June 9, 1925.

F. B. RILEY METHOD OF AND LOOM FOR PRODUCING REED, WIGKER, AND SIMILAR FABRICS Filed Sept. 23 1920 Patented June 9, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT rumors B. RILEY, or nnwromnassacnusms, assronon. ro mwoonwmm- 1mm) COMPANY, or nos'ron, uassacnusms, a conromrxon 01-wee- OHUSETTB.

METHOD 0! AND LOOK FOR PRODUCING REED, WICKED, AND SIKILAB FABRICS.

Application filed September 23, 1920. Serial No. 412,887.

- To all whom it may camera:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS B. RILEY, a citizen of the United States residing at Newton, in the county of iddlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in a Method of and Loom for Producing Reed, Wicker, and Similar Fabrics, of which the following, together with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

The present invention relates generally to the weaving of reed, wicker and similar -material into the type of fabric which is used in the manufacture of baskets, furniture, baby carriages and the like, and contemplates also a novel loom for such weaving.

This type of fabric ordinarily consists of a series of spaced elements or stakes of considerable rigidity, with interwoven strands of similar material, but usually of less rigidity, in close, compact and unspaced arrangement,-both the stakes and the strands differing greatly from the threads of a textile fabric in presenting resistance tobending, twisting or kinking. I

In the hand weaving of such reed, wicker or similar fabrics, the stakes are secured and held in suitable spaced relation, and each strand is woven, for example, over one stake and under the next adjacent stake, the successive layers of strands being alternated in this respect so as to produce a regular weave with the strands in close arrangement. It has also been proposed to weave such a fabric by machinery, and according to the known methods of machine weaving the stakes, held in spaced relation, are alternately bent backward and forward, somewhat in the manner of the warp threads in a textile loom, so that after each such change a strand can be laid in place and pushed down, passing over some of the stakes and under others. According to such prior machine methods of weavmg, the amount of the fabric produced at each shed or operation of the loom is in no case greater than the thickness of a single filler strand, owing to the fact that the strands thus laid in are in close compact arrangement, as distinguished from the wide spaces that separate the several stakes; moreover, the area of a sheet'of fabric so produced is limited by the fact that its length can be no greater than the length of the stakes used therein.

The present invention contemplates a method of machine weaving for a reed, wicker or similar stake and strand fabric which is characterized by radical departures from the methods heretofore employed, in that the closel arranged strands, rather than the space stakes, are the elements to which the deflection is applied; in consequence of this, at each deflection, corresponding somewhat to the shed forming operation in a loom of the previously mentioned type, the amount of the fabric produced-at each operation corresponds to the space between adjacent stakes, and thus secures a much faster rate of weaving than any method heretofore proposed. Moreover, there is no limit to the area of a sheet of fabric produced, by this method, since the strand material is moved longitudinally progressively, and is susceptible 'of repeated replenishment, by attachment thereto of new lengths of strands, in much the same manner as the warp threads in a textile loom. The present invention also contemplates a loom radicall different from previous looms used in t is or allied arts, for

the warp feeding or moving elements and the shed forming elements are one and the same. Also no batten or beating u mechanism is employed, the weft stakes ing accurately spaced apart a predetermined distance, as will hereinafter appear. The essential features of the novel method of weaving which constitutes the present invention will now be describedin detail, reference-being had to the accompanying drawings which show, diagrammatically, the instrumentalities which enter into the process, and in which Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation, showing the fabric in process of formation. V

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the parts shown in Flg. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different figures.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, there is illusstrands or withes of reed, wicker or other similar material, which are drawn in substantial parallelism from suitable supply means, not shown. The strands 1, 1, thus arranged in substantially a sheet form, pass between sets of feeding and forming devices 2 and 3, the latter being carried respectively by rotating shafts 4 and 5. These feeding and forming devices, in the manner hereinafter described, operate to move the strands 1, 1 and deflect them in such a manner as to permit the interweaving of the usual spaced stakes of the finished fabric, the latter emerging from the feeding and forming devices with the strands woven over and under adjacent stakes, as shown at the right hand side of Fig. 1.

Each-feeding and forming. device 2, 3 18 made up of a plurality of disks 6, 6, which are secured side by side upon the shafts 1 and 5 and correspond in number to the num- "ber of strands that make up the complete width of the sheet of woven fabric. Each disk or plate 6 presents on its periphery a plurality of cam projections 7, alternating with depressions 8, and the alternate disks 6 of each feeding and forming device 2 and 3 are angularly displaced in the manner which obviously shown in Fig. 1, so that the alined cam projections 7, 7 of every alternate disk 6 on the upper shaft 4 come into matching relation with the alined depressionsc8, 8 of the corresponding alternate disks 6, 6 on lower shaft 5. In the same way, the depressions of the upper set of disks match up with the cam projections of the lower set of disks, as the shafts 4 and 5 are rotated in unison to advance the strands therebetween. From an inspection of Fig. 1, it will be noted that the strands 1 are closely held to the concave portions of the disks 2 and 3. Thus a large frictional surface is presented to the warp strands in order to positively feed them, and, at the same time the danger of one warp strand crossing over to the wrong disk is minimized, if the disks are in accurate face contact.

The peripheries of the disks 6, 6, as shown in Fig. 3, are also preferably shaped to correspond to the cross section of the strands, in the present instance shown as round, but

may be of any shape desired. It will be understood that each strand 1, as shown in Fig. 3, is brought under the influence of a pair of opposlng disks or plates 6, 6, and, with reference to the plain form of weave here selected for purposes of illustration, it will be understood that when the cam projections 7 and depressions 8 reach their cooperating positions, every alternate strand 1 will be deflected upwardly, while the remainder of the strands 1 will be deflected downwardly, with reference to the plane in which said strands originally entered between the feedand,

ing and forming devices 2 and 3. To this the cooperating opposite disks or plates 6, on the shafts 4 and 5, have their edges spaced apart substantially the thickness of a strand, each strand of the latter occupying and substantially filling the channel that is formed by the opposing concave grooves 9, 9.

At their centers, the cam projections 7 and depressions 8 of the disks 6, 6 are provided with shallow radial slots or cutout portions 10, 10, and it will be evident that when a set of alined slots 10 in feeding and forming device 2 arrives in registry with a set of slots 10 in feeding and forming device .3, this position of the parts on a line connect ing the centers of the shafts 4 and 5', represents the maximum deflection or separation of the alternate strands 1, 1 in their passage between the feedin and forming devices. This registration 0 the slots 10, 10 at the point of maximum deflection is availed of for the insertion of a stake or stakes 11, which may be pushed through and across the entire width of the warp material by any suitable means, here shown as a pair of cooperating rapidly rotatingfeeding rolls 12. To permit of this stake insertion while the disks 6, 6 are in motion, the speed of rotation of the shafts 4 and 5 may be somewhat reduced, or if desired, the rotation of the shafts 4 and 5 may be made intermittent, that is with momentaryrests at the successive instances of maximum deflection when the slots 10, 10 are in registry. I prefer to employ the latter method. To keep the strands straight, and to insure their orderly presentation to the feeding and forming devices, said strands are preferably guided by means of a plate 13, having rows of staggered holes therein through which the strands pass. Preferably this plate should present the strands in exact alinement with the peripheries of the disks, as shown in Fig. 2. v

Following each insertion of a stake or stakes in the manner above described, the further rotation of the feeding and forming devices 2 and 3 advances the completely formed and woven fabric a distanceequal to the space between stakes and thereupon repeats the deflection of the warp material, this time in the opposite direction, so that those strands which were deflected upward- 1y are depressed, while those previously deflected downwardly are elevated; the insertion of a stake or stakes in the manner above described thus serves to bind the strands together in precisely the same manner in which they are bound in a hand woven fabric.

The invention, as above described, is susceptible of wide variation in respect of the form or pattern of weave, since the feeding and forming devices may be arranged to produce fabrics of many different patterns; it is to be understood that the drawings and descriptions herein are illustrative merely of one way of carrying out the invention, and that the latter is in no sense limited to the production of a fabric of reed, paper reed, wicker or similar material, but applies equally as well to the production of woven fabrics of other material, for instance, wire or the like, where the same longitudinal warp deflection, for the purpose of inserting the transverse or stake element of the weave, may be availed of.

I claim,

1. In a loom or like machine for weaving a continuous longitudinal web of stake and strand fabric from reed, wicker or the like,

a combined shedding and take-up means, consisting of cooperating pairs of rotary disks, each pair frictionally engaging a warp strand to feed it longitudinally, said disks having convex arcuate cam portions with reentrant slots, said convex portions alternating with and tangent to arcuate concave portions, whereby at each feeding operation, an open shed is formed across the warp strands, and power actuated means for inserting weft stakes into each shed through the matching slots of said cam disks.

2. In a loom or like machine for weaving,

a continuous longitudinal web of stake and strand fabric from reed, wicker or the like, a combined shedding and warp feeding means, consisting of cooperating pairs of rotary disks, a section through any disk in a plane parallel to the plane of the face of such disk showing the periphery of such disk to be composed of alternate arcuate convex and arcuate concave portions, the concave portions being adapted to closel engage a warp strand and feed it longmeans, consisting of a pair of parallel r0- tating shafts on either side of the lane of the warp, the plane of the shafts being substantially perpendicular to the plane of the Warp, each shaft having a plurality of disks mounted thereon, the disks on each shaft being contiguous, each disk having a plurality of arcuate cam portions mer 'ng mto arcuate concave portions, each di on one shaft being exactly opposite a disk on the other shaft so that by the cooperating action of such pairs of disks the warp is fed longitudinally, the cam portions of Said disks having re-entrant slots, whereby at each feeding operation an open shed is. formed across the warp strands, and power, actuated means for inserting weft stakes into each shed through the matching slots of said cam portions.

FRANCIS B. RILEY. 

